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The Jackson Five, or Six

Underdogs, I have a serious question for you about The Jackson 5. How many members were in the band? This is not a trick questions. Please do not take into consideration any people who were guests during performances, such as young Janet Jackson. Also don’t count any extra person playing instruments that aren’t part of the core band, such as a piano player or drummer. This question is for the members of the core band only. Where there 5 members, or were there six? My second question is for all of those Jackson fans out there, who was the youngest boy of the family? Janet was the youngest girl, and the youngest child of the Jackson clan. Most of us remember that Micheal was the youngest male of the Jackson family. Turns out, we were all wrong and there were 6 members of the Jackson family, and the youngest brother was named Randy!

This seems like it could either be a very faulty memory, or another strange Mandela Effect. There is a very detailed account from Scarabperformance on YouTube which inspired this blog. I will link his full video below. I advise you to watch the whole thing. It took me awhile to get into the video, but I started seeing one strange thing after another. I applaud how much work and detail was put into the making of his posts. I want to say that I am, and always have been a huge music fan and find myself fairly well versed in acts from the past. My parents were older than the average parent, so I grew up on their musical tastes which were far different than most people my age. When kids were into Britney Spears, I was into the Beatles and Pink Floyd. I can honestly say that I always remember that Micheal Jackson was the youngest brother, and there were only 5 core members of the Jackson. I don’t remember a Randy Jackson at all.

The line up that I recall is, Jackie (b.1951), Tito(b.1953), Jermaine (b.1954), Marion(b.1957), and Micheal Jackson(b.1958-D.2009). All of a sudden, there is a new brother named Randy(b.1961) who is 4 years younger than Micheal! The stranger things is that this boy seems to be digitally added into interviews and old photos. Take a look at the YouTube link to see all the interviews. No one in the family interacts directly with this new kid. It seems wrong. The other thing is, the child doesn’t seem to age at a proper rate. This photo was taken in 1965, which would mean that the new brother, Randy, was 3 or 4 years old. According to the new history, Micheal was born in 1958, and Randy was born in 1961. Do any of these kids look like they are 4 years old? I don’t remember meeting too many 4 year old kids that are as tall as these kids. Yes, it can happen, but do any of them seem 4?

This photo was taken in 1973, and the interview with this photo said that young Randy was 8 years old. According to the family history, Randy Jackson was born in 1961, which would mean that this kid would be 12 years old here. Although he didn’t “officially” join the Jackson 5 until 1975, there are photos and interviews with Randy being part of the band prior to 1975. What? Is anyone else confused? I have talked to several people who have worked in music, who were D.J.’s in the 1970’s and 80’s, and no one remembers Randy, and everyone recalls Micheal being the youngest male Jackson. Randy was a dude on American Idol. There was a lot of drugs being done by these people in the industry, but I don’t think it was enough to forget an entire person in a very famous singing group. Something is not adding up!

In theory, Randy should be in photos and interviews at least 50% of the time. What is off about this is that there are many photos of the Jackson 5 after 1975, which is said to be the year that Randy joined. There is no Randy in these photos. By 1975, the other siblings guest stared on appearances with the Jackson 5, but we never saw Randy. Father Joe Jackson was famously a media whore. He was very abusive to his children and treated them like a machine. What doesn’t make any sense is how long Randy was hidden away from the public. He is hardly included in anything, even after he joined the Jackson 5, but we also don’t see any photos from childhood, or any home interviews that the full family gave. Where is this child the rest of the time?

Jackson Children, minus Randy

Is it possible that Randy is real and has been there the whole time? Yes, because people are having an issue telling the brothers apart. They look very similar and unless it’s Micheal, people are not necessarily going to put these kids together as part of the same family. What is strange is the string of photos that don’t make any sense, like the succession of photos that make it seem like Randy doesn’t age, then he disappears altogether for years. There is also a theory that Randy joined the Jackson 5 just as one of the other brothers was getting ready to leave. However, the line up with 6 was around for at least 2 full years before one of the brother’s left making it the Jackson 5 again. At some point, the group was changed from Jackson 5 to The Jacksons, but this was years after everything in question here. I have also heard a theory that Randy is not a brother, but a cousin who was brought in by Joe. That could be an explanation, but why has been added into the sibling history?

The Jackson Children, minus Randy

There is also a theory called the YouTube effect. This means that with the invention of a platform like this, more footage than ever is being posted. This includes rare or forgotten footage. People who don’t recall the events now think this is a mistake and now believe that somehow the time lines have been altered. Or, it is a Mandela Effect and our reality is shifting. It could all just be a simple misunderstanding because of this new information. None of us have seen every single performance of the Jackson 5, let alone any of our favorite musical acts. We may have missed something, but is it logical to misplace an entire member of a very famous group? Any of this is possible, and this new information may not fit into what you recall because it wasn’t available to you at the moment.

What do you recall? Does any of this see strange to you at all? Do you remember Randy Jackson always being part of the family? Do you remember seeing him as a child and growing up next to his siblings until he joined the band as a full member in 1975? Is this just an example of people who have poor memory and people not really knowing the members of this very famous band. Or is it something different and an alteration in our time line? What you are your thoughts on the matter?

Please check out the YouTube link here for Scarabperformance. All work is his own, I was just inspired by his post and did my own research and digging as a result. https://youtu.be/31GY-HfFQSg